It struck instantly. Liam only had time to see a symbol on the back of his uncles' hand flash.

The smell of burnt and currently burning flesh sprang into the air as Liam's right arm went limp. The lightning pierced all the way through the limb and paralyzed it, which might be considered a blessing. Only the initial strike of the lightning caused indescribable pain.

He meant to cry out, except he discovered he could no longer move. Not even his mouth would close. His eyes had been locked into his aunt's, which glowed golden as they stared into Liam's own. It took merely a second before he comprehended the situation.

'Mystic Eyes!' The boy exclaimed in his mind. Essentially a physical mutation caused by a collection of magic circuits in the eyes, Mystic Eyes granted the wielders a simple, yet powerful, method of magecraft. All one had to do was pass magical energy through them to actualize a Mystery. Liam cursed himself for making eye contact, finding himself unable to even close his eyes. 'Enchantment type?' He thought to himself.

"Don't worry," his aunt mused as she slowly approached, her black heels clicking against the wooden floor. She procured a large dagger from behind her back. It twirled in her hand, as if mocking the boy crouching immobile on the floor. "Pain from decapitation is quickly over, I believe. We only need your brain after all."

One meter. A half meter. His brain tortured itself as it measured the distance between the two. The distance between him and his death. His guardian Angel created a loud noise from outside.

"BASEMENT, NOW!" A girl cried out from outside the mansion. Liam's aunt broke eye contact briefly, allowing his pitiful magic circuits to push out the influence of her Mystic Eyes. Magical energy rushed to his legs as he sent out a call with his mind.

Kite, the djinn, materialized around Liam's head, obscuring his vision. He couldn't risk being caught by his aunt's eyes again. Still shaking, he shot across the living room with reinforced legs, reaching the basement door in a matter of milliseconds. He could feel a bounded field manifesting around the room.

The boy swung the door open and almost shattered it when he closed it, pulling back on the doorknob with all his strength to make sure the enemies couldn't open it.

- -

In reality, Rin never left her house.

She walked around the perimeter of the mansion, inspecting both the ground and the invisible energy produced by the Ley Line beneath them.

'My bounded field isn't active. I swear I remember activating it before I left, all those years ago.' The woman thought to herself as she circled around her house. An odd detail poked her brain, begging her to put her attention on it. Did she close the curtains to the living room window?

While she wished to chalk it up to an eccentricity of Liam's that she just hadn't witnessed yet, she saw that all the curtains were drawn, across every window in the house.

"Somethings seriously wrong." Rin spoke aloud this time, spinning on her heel and walking back to where she came from previously.

Then she heard the lightning strike.

The sheer power passed through the house, traveling to and through Rin herself. Her mouth curled into a snarl. Someone had infiltrated her home. And she didn't even know.

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Fueling her body with fury, she raised her arm and called out her activation spell,

"Anfang (Begin!)" Under her command, her circuits burst open, cycling the mana inherent in the air around her. They spun beautifully, processing the energy with such efficiency, magi would have weeped upon seeing the quality of her circuits. She amassed an unreal amount of magical energy in seconds before shouting out to Liam-

"BASEMENT, NOW!"

Regaining her breath, she begun her spell.

"Das Schließen. Vogelkäfig, Echo!" Rin cried out, using her words as vessels for her magecraft. A bounded field crawled across the living room, sealing the intruders (and hopefully not Liam) inside, while also making the room completely soundproof. This was just the first part, however.

Her mind reached into the magic crest across her arm, fueling one of the solid, crystallized Mysteries with magical energy. It passed through the morphed circuits and immediately activated the curse without delay.

Hundreds upon hundreds of Gandr bullets shot from the wall inside the living room.

They carried enough energy to cause physical damage, tearing the rug in the center of the room to shreds, as well as reducing the table which sat atop it into splinters. The leather from her couch tore as small amounts of fluff spurt outwards before disintegrating from the rest of the oncoming Gandr.

- -

Eventually the machine gun of magic came to an end, judging by the lack of sounds coming from the room on the other side of the door. The bounded field had already receded as well. It faded as soon as the attack had finished.

Kite floated away from Liam's head, remaining at his left side. He thanked the spirit again for his assistance before sending energy to them via their contract.

'There's no way in hell I can fight them two on one.' He thought to himself as he crouched, readying to begin sprinting. 'Rin's here. It's safe to run.'

Pulling from his Od to reinforce his legs again, Liam pushed the door open sped out from the doorway.

Kite stayed at his side, shielding him from his relatives, which were to his left. His eyes didn't even turn to see if they still lived, nor to survey the damage done to the house, but he still knew. There's no way they would die that easily.

He crossed the space in a mere two seconds before he almost kicked down the front door. Rin stood a few meters away from it, face furious and hand shoved in her purse. Seeing her expression, he took a chance to glance behind himself.

His uncle stood there, hand raised with a gun gesture. He could see the same symbol glowing on his hand, as well as a new one. Three horizontal lines on top of each other manifested in front of his fingers. Looking down, Liam could see a similar symbol appearing directly above where his heart would be, except instead of three solid lines, they were three broken lines.

Kite dashed in between the two as they were ordered, in an effort to create interference between the magical lightning. It was no use-for the lightning was not of science. It was a Mystery.

The lightning sprung from his uncle's fingers, passing harmlessly through the spirit and diving for Liam's heart.

"Sieben!" Rin called out as she whipped her hand out from her brown purse. A small gemstone sprung from her hand and seemed to float in the air, before it burst into a sea of aqua light.

A large circular shield manifested before them and stopped the lightning in its tracks.

Liam continued without stopping, sprinting out past the front gate and down the sidewalk. He spoke to Kite through his mind, ordering them to dissipate. He didn't want his relatives to try and target them. It didn't take long for Rin to catch up, her body slightly reinforced.

"Who the hell are they?!" She commanded her assistant. The boy didn't even make eye contact, his mind utterly focused on one goal.

"My family. We were supposed to meet in three days." Liam spoke between breaths as the cross the street. They jumped over an oncoming car with ease, their speed picking up even more. "We have to get to Fuyuki bridge."

"I hope you know, you're cleaning up that mess!" Rin huffed, referring to her now destroyed living room. Liam remained silent.

Footsteps stomped on the asphalt and concrete paths next to the two magi. Four figures chased after them, all clothed and obscured by dark blue robes. Rin raised a finger to curse them but, Liam shoved it down. A small grin came across his face. It seemed his adrenaline caught up with his fear. Perhaps it had even overtaken it.

"Let me handle this." He told her rather than asked her.